Indigenous input helps save wayward grizzly bear from summary killing
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Sun 19 Apr 2020 06.00 EDT
When a bear starts feeding off garbage and loses its fear of humans it is quickly shot but an unlikely conservation partnership may be setting a different path
In early April, a young grizzly bear swam through the chilly waters off the western coast of Canada in search of food.
He came ashore on Hanson Island, one of more than 200 rocky outcrops in British Columbias Broughton archipelago, and quickly started eating garbage from a cabin.
It was a dangerous move: bears that get too comfortable eating food waste and start to lose their fear of humans are quickly shot.
But this bears death was averted through an unlikely partnership between local Indigenous groups and conservation officers, raising hopes of a more holistic approach to wildlife management with greater Indigenous input.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/19/grizzly-bear-canada-indigenous-conservation-british-columbia
https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.4897784.1586987132!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg
The bear known as Mali swam to the remote island from the B.C. mainland and began rummaging through improperly kept trash. (Suzie Hall)